Advertisement

A Natural, indeed: Robert Redford reflects on playing ball in 'The Natural'

Robert Redford is back on the silver screen this week, starring in the adventure/comedy "A Walk in the Woods." But if you're a sports fan, then there's one iconic role that hearing Redford's name will always bring to mind — Roy Hobbs in "The Natural."

[Yahoo Sports Fantasy Football: Sign up and join a league today!]

Redford, now 79, sat down with Yahoo Movies recently, to discuss some of his favorite roles as part of the Role Recall series. "The Natural" was certainly in the starting lineup for Redford. Since we dig baseball and we dig baseball movies here at The Stew, we thought it was a good share for our readers too.

Like us, Redford is a baseball fan, so one of his favorite parts about making "The Natural" was that he really got to play baseball for the movie. He took pride in that. Redford also told Yahoo Movies about his struggle getting the film made and why he believed in changing the ending of the 1952 Bernard Malamud novel upon which the film was based.

[Elsewhere: MLB pitcher Derek Holland has a Jobu doll and a "Major League" haircut]

Redford says he loves the Boston Red Sox and Ted Williams and wished he could have played baseball for a living. His acting career turned out pretty darn good, in making "The Natural," he left his mark on baseball too.

That's not a bad consolation.

More MLB coverage from Yahoo Sports:

- - - - - - -

Mike Oz is the editor of Big League Stew on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at mikeozstew@yahoo.com or follow him on Twitter!